Multiple support bracket



Jan. 19, 1960 L. A. SMITH ETAL 2,921,690

MULTIPLE SUPPORT BRACKET Filed Dec. 12, 1955 INVENTORS Ammo 6-6mm 4ND EARL AS nneow ATTORNEY MULTIPLE SUPPORT BRACKET Larro A. Smith, Oakland, and Earl A. Sparrow, San Leandro, Calif.

Application December 12, 1955, Serial No. 552,393

3 Claims. (Cl. 211--73) The invention relates to a unitary display support for a plurality of like transparent containers for different articles, with the containers selectively dismountable for providing access to their contents.

Repairmen and shopmen and home mechanics frequently have need for ready access to smaller articles such as repair parts and fastening elements, and a present support unit comprises a special bracket designed for the support of a series of like containers preferably having transparent side walls for the viewing of their contents therethrough. For a cabinetmaker, for. instance, the diiferent containers of a supported set might contain nails and screws of various sizes, while another worker might have a supply of bolts and :Iivets and washers and parts in a unitary set of the containers. It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a particularly convenient wall-supported bracket for carrying a set of article-holding containers for their ready and selective dismounting and remounting for providing access to their contents as needed.

Another object is to provide a support unit of the character described in which open-topped containers may be used, with the support bracket providing a common cover for the mounted containers.

A further object is to provide a unitary assembly of the character described which is particularly arranged for the support of containers provided with peripheral beads or. flanges at their tops.

An added object is to provide a container assembly of the character described which prevents a vibration release of containers from the support bracket by a stop means thereof which does not interfere with a ready mounting and dismounting of the containers. 7

Yet another object is to provide a support bracket of the character described which is adapted to be formed from an originally flat single blank of sheet material.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth or be apparent in the following description of typical embodiments thereof, and in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a broken-away perspective top view showing a bracket of our invention as supporting a set of cylindrical containers.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary bottom bracket.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view showing a flat blank which is adapted for forming to provide the present bracket.

Figure 4 is a sectional view at the broken line 4-4 in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a partly sectional view at the line 5-5 in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken at the line 66 in Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a broken-away fragmentary top perspective view of a modification of the bracket which is parperspective of the United States Patent 6 7, 2,921,690 Patented Jan. 19, 1960 ticularly adapted for the support. of rectangular containers.

As is particularly shown in Figures 1 to 6 inclusive, 2). present multiple support unit comprises a bracket structure 11 which is arranged for supportedly engaging a plurality of cylindrical containers 12. The containers 12 preferably have transparent sides to provide for a view- The notches 16 of the lower plate 15 extend from the v front plate edge for laterally receiving the necks of the containers 12 below their flanges 13 for a suspended support of the containers from the plate 15, the portions 17 being appropriately spaced at the forward ends of the notches 16 to permit the disposal of the containers in the notches. As shown, the plates 14 and 15 have flanges 18 and 19 respectively extending upwardly and downwardly from their rear edges for use in mounting the bracket on a supporting wall by the application of screws or other fasteners, through holes 20 provided in the flanges.

For economy of production, and as illustrated in'Figure 3, a present bracket structure 11 is preferably formed of a single rectangular blank 11 of appropriate width which provides the different bracket portions including the plates 14 and 15 as rectangular parts 14 and 15' connected by connecting relatively narrow rectangular parts 17' to provide the portions 17 of the formed bracket. The blank 11' also has integral edge parts 18' and 19 for providing the flanges 18 and 19 of the formed brackets, and said parts are initially provided with the spaced fastener-receiving holes 20 through them, it being noted that the blank is shapeable into the disclosed bracket form having a generally U-shaped uniform crosssection between the notches 16 which extend in and from the blank part 15 and between the parts 17' and are made slightly wider between the latter parts for a reason to be hereinafter brought out. Connected portions of symmetrical openings in a blank 11 provide the notches 16 in the blank part 15 andnotches 21 providing gaps between the parts 17', with said notch and gap portions of the opening 21 extending oppositely from a common straight line at the juncture of the blank parts 15 and 17 and the notches 21 extending only to a straight line at the juncture of the blank parts 17' with the part 14'.

By particular reference to Figures 1 and 2 and 3, it will be noted that a present bracket 11 is formed from the original flat blank 11 having the parts 14' and 15' and 17 and 18 and 19' by bending the blank alongstraight lines at the junctures of its parts 14' and 15' with the intermediate parts 17 at right angles to the latter, and by bending the blank parts 18', 19' oppositely from the parts 14' and 15' in perpendicular relation to the latter parts to provide the mutually coplanar flanges 18 and 19 by which the bracket may be fixed to an upright support by the application of screws or the like, through their perforations 20. The U-shaped notches 16 in the lower plate 15 of the formed bracket 11 which extend from the gaps between the connecting upright bracket portions 17 have straight parallel side portions 16' tangentially connected by an inner semicircular edge portion 16" having a diameter very slightly greater than the neck portion of a container 12 below its flange 13 whereby'to provide fora support of the container on the plate 15 from said flange. Means are. provided for retaininga-fully mounted container'll against its undesired escape from a notchf1 6.

by 'reason'of any. vibrations of a support-carryirig the bracket' or of allateral touching of the containers. As particularly shown, stop projections 23 extend upwardly from the plate 15 at such points of the oppositenotch side portions 16 that the flange 13 of a fully mounted container is engagedly 'retainable inwardly of said projections unless raised to clear the projections. Also, the opposed side edges 24 0f the parts 17 joining the plates 14 and 15 at the forward ends'of the notches 16 areso spaced at 'their upper portions as to freely receive the 7 container flanges 13fbetween'them thereat while the .ing escape of a container 12 from its mounted position 'on a present bracket l1 is primarily preventedby the stops 23 and is secondarilyprevented by the stops 25. Understanding that the described support bracket 11 has beenparticularly'designed for its use by engaging the annular flanges or beads 13 extending fromthe tops of cylindrical containers with its lower plate 15 at the edges of theplate notches 16, it will be understoodthat h the present bracket structure is readily adaptable to the supporto'f containers having rectangular tops' provided with laterally extending top beads by providing a container-receiving notch of appropriate form to supportingly engage beneath the top beads of such containers.

for supporting a rectangular container 32 provided with 'a top flange or head 33 by which the containermay be supported on a lower plate provided with rectangular container-receiving notches 36. The present bracket 31 has-its lower plate 35 connected at its front edge to an upper plate 34 by connecting portions 37, and the plates 34 and 35 are provided with mounting'flanges 38 and 39 as in' the first embodiment. .A'present container 32 isshown as having the general conformation of that of a can in which spices are provided on the market and, whether its sides are transparent or opaque, would usually be provided on its forwardly'displayed side with appro- V priate'indicia identifying its contents.

In view of the foregoing, it will be understood that a 7 present unitary bracket 11 or 31 may be provided with particular readiness by shaping it from an originally flat blank of suitable metallic or nonmetallic sheet material, 7 or by molding it of a metallic or nonmetallic material.

Furthermore, the present multiple-container assembly is understood to most eflFectively accomplish the various utility functions for which it' was designed,.said func- V tionsiincluding the ready visual identification of the con-f tents of, thedifierent'containers of a set and the ready access to the container contents provided by the particular manner of removably mounting lidle'ss containers on the brackets. It will also be understood that the present.

unitary bracket structures are particularly rigid as supports for containers when they are attached by their coplanar rear flanges to an upright supportsurface.

Also, and as particularly shown, the top of a mounted container is arranged to' be so close tothe overlying upper plate that the latter may provide the only cover necessary for the. container, thereby avoiding any requirement for the provision of covers for a set of opentopped containers to be mounted'on a present bracket. Then, too, it will be understood that when the top plate issub'stantially horizontal, it maybe used as an addi- Thus, Figure 7 fragmentarily discloses a bracket structure 31 dicating the contents of articles to be placed in the different containers of a supported row and/or have an advertisement value.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the present multiple support unit will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains. While we have described the principle of use, together with structural arrangements which we now consider to comprise preferred. embodiments thereof, we desire to have it understood 'tha t the showing is primarily illustrative, and that such changes and developments may be made, when desired, as fall-within'the scope of the following claims. Q

We 'claimz- Y 1. In a one-piece bracket for supporting a container having-a circumscribing bead portion at its upper end, relatively rigid mutually spaced and parallel opposed upper and lower flatplates and provided with mutually coplanar transverse mounting and. spacing flanges at the rear edges thereof for use in supportedly fixing the bracket to an upright supporting surface with the plates horizontally disposed, a container-receiving notch extending in the lower plate from its forward edge for closely and complementarily receiving and engaging thevcontainer 'at the inner notch end for the flat supporting engagement of the container bead peripherally thereof and upon the plate and beneath the upper plate, and bracket portions integrally connecting the front edges of the plates in the plane thereof and solely laterally of the forward end'of the notch of the bottom plate and providing'an upright openingextending 'between the plates for the passage of the head of the upright container therethrough. ,j 1 f 2. In a one piece bracket for supporting a container having a 'circumscribing head portion at its upper end, rigidly related mutually spaced opposed and parallel upper and lower flat plates of like rectangular outline provided at their rear edges with mutually coplanar flanges arranged for their separate use in supportedly fixing the bracket to an uprightsupporting-surface with said plates horizontally extended in fixed spaced relation from said surface, a notch extendingin the lower plate from its forward edge for closely and complementarily receiving the upper container portion immediately beneath the container bead .at the' inner notch .end for the container-supporting flat engagement of amajor portion of the bead peripherally thereof upon the lowerplate, and mutually coplanar upright bracket portions integrally connecting the forward edges of .the upper and lower plates in the plane of said edges andat opposite sides of the notch while defining the sides of an opening extending between V the plates for the passage of a horizontally disposedconstalled container head for engagement by-the head to prevent an appreciable removing .moVement. of the mounted container overthe lower plate unless the container bead is'liftcd over the projections. r l

3. In a one-piecebracket for supporting afrow of open-toppedcontainers each having a circumscribing bead portion at its upper end, rigidly related mutually spaced opposed and parallel upper .and lower plates of like rectangular outline provided attheir rear edges .With mutu- 'ally divergent and coplanar flanges arranged for their tional article-support means; -On the other hand; the 7 top face of the upper plate and/or the forward face of use in supportedly ,mounting the bracket on an iupright supporting surface with said plates horizontallyextended from said surface, notches extending inrthe lower" plate from its forward edge for closely and complementarily receiving the upper container portions adjacent and immediately beneath the container heads at the inner ends of the notches for the supporting engagement of the bead peripherally thereof and upon the. lower plate and'beneath the upper plate, upright bracket portions integrally connecting the forward edge portions of the bottom plate between the forward ends of its notches with the upper plate while defining openings extending between the plates for the free passage of the horizontally disposed container bead portions therethrough, and said lower plate provided adjacent the notch sides with integral upset stop projections for the free movement of container beads between them and the upper plate for laterally engaging the beads of mounted containers forwardly of the beads to prevent appreciable removing movements of mounted containers over the lower plate unless the container beads are lifted over the projections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Gingras Mar. 17, 1914 White Aug. 1, 1916 Davis May 15, 1917 Mitchell Nov. 21, 1922 Kluck Oct. 26, 1926 Neuschotz Sept. 5, 1933 Gordon May 26, 1936 Paschell June 20, 1950 Burger Mar. 31, 1953 Kennedy July 10, 1956 

